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Jessica B. Harris

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Jessica B. Harris
Born (1948-03-18) March 18, 1948 (age 76)
Queens, New York
Alma materBryn Mawr College
Queens College, City University of New York
New York University
GenreNonfiction, memoir
SubjectCulinary history, personal history, New York City, the 1970s and 1980s, African diaspora
Notable awardsJames Beard Award
Website
www.africooks.com/wordpress/

Jessica B. Harris (born March 18, 1948)[1] is an American culinary historian, college professor, cookbook author and journalist.[2] She is professor emerita at Queens College, City University of New York, where she taught for 50 years, and is also the author of 15 books, including cookbooks, non-fiction food writing and memoir. She has twice won James Beard Foundation Awards, including for Lifetime Achievement in 2020, and her book High on the Hog was adapted in 2021 as a four-part Netflix series by the same name.

Early life

Jessica B. Harris, an only child, was born in Queens, New York in 1948.[3] Her family also had a summer home on Martha's Vineyard.[3] From 1953 to 1961, Harris attended the United Nations International School in New York City.[3] She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts when she was sixteen years old and went on to earn an A.B. in French from Bryn Mawr College (1968).[3] Her junior year at Bryn Mawr, Harris studied in Paris.[4] Following graduation, Harris returned to France to study at the Universite de Nancy for one year.[4] She then earned her master's degree from Queens College (1971) and a Ph.D. from New York University (1983).[5] In 1972, Harris traveled to West Africa to work on her doctoral dissertation.[6]

Career

In the 1970s, Harris worked as a journalist before becoming a food writer. She was book review editor at Essence and theater critic for New York Amsterdam News, the United States' oldest black newspaper.[3] From July to November in 1999, she worked as a resident food historian for Sara Moulton's Cooking Live Primetime.[7] She has also appeared on various other television shows such as The Today Show, The Main Ingredient, The Curtis Aikens Show, and Good Morning America.[8]

Harris is professor emerita in the English Department at Queens College/C.U.N.Y, where she taught for 50 years.[9] She was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans.[10] She also founded the Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures at Dillard.[11] She hosts a monthly program, My Welcome Table, on Heritage Radio Network.[12] She has published 12 books.[13] Her primary subjects are the culinary history, foodways and recipes of the African diaspora. Harris was a 2004 winner of the lifetime achievement awards from the Southern Foodways Alliance[14] and a 2010 James Beard Foundation special award honoree.[15][16] In 2017 she published a memoir My Soul Looks Back.[17]

In May 2021, Netflix released a four-episode series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America[18][19] based on Harris' 2011 book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America.[20] In 2020, she won a James Beard Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement.[21] In September 2021, she appeared on the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[22]

Personal life

Harris resides in Brooklyn, Martha's Vineyard and New Orleans.[23]

Works and publications

References

  1. ^ Damian Mosley, Interview with Jessica B. Harris, SFA Founders Oral History Project, December 28, 2005.
  2. ^ "Literary Works and Beyond by Jessica B. Harris".
  3. ^ a b c d e Garner, Dwight (2017-05-09). "'My Soul Looks Back' Warmly Recalls New York's Black Elite in the 1970s". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  4. ^ a b "Jessica B. Harris | The HistoryMakers". www.thehistorymakers.org. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  5. ^ "Education Makers - Jessica B. Harris". The HistoryMakers.
  6. ^ Brown, DeNeen (2011-03-08). "Q&A: Jessica Harris on African American food and 'High on the Hog'". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  7. ^ "About – Literary Works and Beyond by Jessica B. Harris". Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  8. ^ "About – Literary Works and Beyond by Jessica B. Harris". Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  9. ^ "Fireside Chat with Living Legend Jessica B. Harris | NYU Wagner". wagner.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  10. ^ "Hutchins Lecture by Jessica B. Harris, Thursday, March 20 at 4:30 pm". The Center for the Study of the American South. 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  11. ^ "Jessica Harris". Southern Living. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  12. ^ "My Welcome Table by Jessica B. Harris". Heritage Radio Network.
  13. ^ DeNeen Brown (March 8, 2011). "Q&A: Jessica Harris on African American food and 'High on the Hog'". Washington Post.
  14. ^ "2004 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners: Nathalie Dupree and Jessica Harris". Southern Foodways Alliance. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  15. ^ "2010 James Beard Foundation Winners Announced". Kurman Communications. May 4, 2010.
  16. ^ Dwight Garner (January 25, 2011). "What Africa Brought to the Table". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Dayna Evans, "Do You Remember When Icons Could Preach and Boogie?", The Cut, May 9, 2017.
  18. ^ Rosner, Helen (May 24, 2021). "Tracing the African Diaspora in Food". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-05-18.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ Endolyn, Osayi (2021-05-17). "The Profound Significance of 'High on the Hog'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  20. ^ Grimes, William (2011-01-07). "Soul Cuisine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  21. ^ "The 2020 Lifetime Achievement Winner and Humanitarian of the Year | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  22. ^ Hayes, Katelyn (November 11, 2021). "Jessica B. Harris Time 100 Most Influential People of 2021". Reset The Table. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  23. ^ Nadler, Holly (5 September 2015). "After Katrina: Jessica Harris reflects on the hurricane's 10th anniversary". The Martha's Vineyard Times. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  24. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking by Jessica B. Harris, Author Atheneum Books $19.95 (195p) ISBN 978-0-689-11872-2". Publishers Weekly. June 1, 1989. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  25. ^ "IRON POTS AND WOODEN SPOONS: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking By Jessica B. Harris". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  26. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: BEYOND GUMBO: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim by Jessica Harris, Author . Simon & Schuster $27 (400p) ISBN 978-0-684-87062-5". Publishers Weekly. February 17, 2003. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  27. ^ "Picks and Pans Review: Beyond Gumbo:Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim – Vol. 60 No. 19". People. 2003-11-10. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  28. ^ Garner, Dwight (2003-06-01). "COOKING". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  29. ^ "HIGH ON THE HOG A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica B. Harris". Kirkus Reviews. October 4, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  30. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Martha's Vineyard Table by Jessica B. Harris, Author, Susie Cushner, Photographer . Chronicle $35 (203p) ISBN 978-0-8118-4999-9". Publishers Weekly. February 19, 2007. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
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